Barnes and Noble & Books-A-Million Stop Selling Marvel Comics

Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million have confirmed to Good e-Reader that they have stopped carrying single issues of Marvel Comics. You might still find single issues at some of the smaller stores or in more rural areas, but it has been mandated that stores cannot order new issues.

Barnes and Noble has a flagship store in Union Square, in New York City. This is the location where they tend to have unveiling events for the Nook product line. Two sources at this store have confirmed that they will no longer sell single issue Marvel Comics. An official Barnes and Noble spokesman has also confirmed that they will continue to sell graphic novels and trade paperback editions of Marvel properties, because they are sourced through Hachette. Customers will still be able to purchase single issues produced by DC and Dark Horse.

Books-A-Million has also confirmed that they are no longer carrying Marvel titles at the head office. Contacts within the receiving and ordering departments have said that Marvel titles are simply not available on their lists anymore. They are basically unable to order single issues comics at all.

It is very interesting that exactly at the same time BOM and B&N both have stopped carrying single issues of Marvel Comics. This decision is not from the bookstores themselves, but has come directly from Marvel. The big question is why? I can’t remember a time when the entire Marvel universe was more popular than it is now. Perhaps this could have something to do with Marvel developing their own digital distribution platform and intend to phase out Comixology.

When it comes down to it, many comic lovers tend to buy their single issues directly from dedicated comic stores and not your average bookstore. Your local comic shop often has a wider selection and a copious amount of back issues. Barnes and Noble, and many other bookstores often have an elevated rate of comic returns to the publisher every month and likely Marvel said “enough is enough.”

Marvel has not responded to many requests for an interview or to give us a definitive reason why they have suspended single issue comics across the entire retail trade.

Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and Verge.

Barnes and Noble just confirmed with us, that Marvel has suspended single issue comics in ALL bookstores. Graphic Novels will be available at B&N because they are actually sourced by Hachette.

Wilkey

No reason given? Who wrote this article?

Michael Kozlowski

Official spokesman of Barnes and Noble and Books-a-million both reached out to me today, and have said Marvel has suspended retail distribution of single issue comics. They made sure to point out, its just not their stores, its ALL OF RETAIL. So, Marvel has basically suspended any bookstore now from buying single issue comics. I reached out to Marvel PR, but they have not replied yet.

We put a link directly to your website. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. We originally found the picture and some discussion quotes from a message board and then reached out to all of our pr contacts. If you say it was your forum and article as a basis for this article, we trust you and have added a link to it.